Ah, if people only took vacations every week!

It would be so much easier to keep on top of their travel plans and to ensure they don’t stray away from you. Since that’s unlikely to happen, it’s your job to stay in touch with them. But how much, and how often?

I personally think there is no such thing as too much contact.  But how you do it, and how professionally, will ensure your clients think of you as providing them with useful, fun, and tempting information – not electronically stalking them!

A monthly newsletter full of leisure travel tidbits will likely be a welcome addition to their inbox. At Vision Voyages Travel we do one for our independent travel advisors, as well as a themed weekly one (multigenerational travel; river cruising; adventure travel) which they can distribute to targeted clientele.

Never underestimate the power of snail mail.  When was the last time you received a letter or card that was hand-addressed in your mailbox? Send newspaper or magazine clips, recipes and – very powerful – postcards from your own personal travels and I promise they’ll get looked at before the gas bill or junk mail!

Don’t be shy about picking up the phone to let your clients know you’re thinking about them, perhaps at a product launch or conference. “Hi!  I was chatting with this hotelier from Barbados and told him how much you love golf and he suggested…” Wouldn’t you be impressed with such personal service?

If you don’t want to seem intrusive, call their home during the day when you know no one will be there and just leave a voicemail. But making sure you do it professionally will ensure your clients think of you as providing them with useful, fun information.

They may never contact you about multigenerational travel or golfing in Barbados, but you’ve kept the door open and perhaps reminded them that they want to talk to you about another trip altogether.

It’s been said that these days you can expect a response from only one in 12 contacts, so don’t get discouraged when each touchpoint doesn’t result in a flood of response.

Bottom line? Monthly contact – at a minimum – is necessary to let your clients know how much you value them and that you are looking forward to helping them plan their next holiday